The modern world of F1 seems to be suffering from a perpetual “silly season”. Once upon a time the silly stories occurred only in the summer months when things were quiet and no one was quite sure where drivers would be going next year. These days the bottom-feeders of F1, who have never been near the surface of the sport, gather the detritus that sinks to their level and fart it out, telling their foolish customers that this is the latest news. They don’t care if it right or wrong, they have promised their clients so many stories a day to fluff up pointless websites and so, with the help of Google Translate, they lurk unseen at the bottom of the F1 pond, copying and pasting the work of others. There is so much crap out there that I’ve almost given up looking at the news and keep the good stuff for subscription-only publications.
However, now and then there are real stories worthy of comment. The latest news is that Lewis Hamilton is supposed to be talking about a return to McLaren if he loses the World Championship. That would be a crashing admittance of failure, wouldn’t it? No racing driver in his right mind gives up a competitive car, unless his position is untenable. You just cannot afford to do that. Careers in F1 are short and being in the right place at the right time is vital, so you simply grin and bear it and work out how to beat your team mate. The trouble is that most of the news these days is based on what people saw or were told rather than what they hear from the people involved. I saw Lewis Hamilton drop into Red Bull in Austria. So what? He went to have a drink with some mates… The latest rumours are that Renault Sport F1 might be up for sale. That doesn’t make a whole of sense. Six months ago, Renault middle managers refused to allow alliance partner Nissan to buy half the business despite the obvious synergies and cost-savings, because it was deemed to be too precious. The operation has been at Viry-Chatillon since 1977 and has won Renault vast acclaim with its 1.5-litre turbos, it’s celebrated V10s and V8s. Right now it is struggling with the new 1.6-litre power units of the modern era, but there is no doubt that the gap to Mercedes will close. Renault still needs to sell cars and F1 remains a great way to do it. The European car markets are moribund and the growth is going on at global level, so one needs global exposure and so F1 makes more sense than ever. I believe that more companies will come to F1 rather than fewer once F1 rids itself of the current blight in Munich. F1 is selling what the car manufacturers want…
joeblogsf1 
Joe
Talking about, …blight in Munich.”, what is happening there? I can’t find anything on the BBC or Telegraph websites, my German is hopeless so I haven’t looked at any German newspaper sites.
Do you have any news of BCE’s Munich affair
Martin
It is just going through the ground we already know.
I’m tired of the poor news out there but I’m honestly struggling to find a site worth paying for subscription. Where do you regularly contribute too? Thank you for your blog btw, it’s one of the few places for F1 news that is trustworthy and worth reading.
http://www.morienval.com/businessanalyst.html
Is there anything solid behind these two rumours or are they just ‘bottom-feeder’ type stories!
I think the article made that pretty obvious
It’s all part of the see saw that is engine+ constructor relationships. But Renault must be getting very peaved that RBR publicly blame Renault now yet never mentioned their contribution when winning Championships on the bounce.
Your article here does remind us why Renault keep this operation going and have done for so long. Long before RBR arrived into F1.
The problem Renault then faces is, who’s the next “winning team”?
It didn’t work with Williams last few years, Force India don’t have the investment, McLaren now with Honda. Who can Renault partner with that isn’t RBR? Who could afford to buy RBR given the investment put into that team, although there has been a tangible ROI in sales of Red Bull, so price tag might not be so steep.
Roland
I’d go further and say that it’s disgraceful the way that Horner/Red Bull are publicly criticizing Renault. Using words like ‘unacceptable’ in public to describe your engine partner is going too far, discussions like this should be behind closed doors. That’s the proper time to describe things as unacceptable, thump the table etc.
If Horner doesn’t realise that winning streaks always come to an end he hasn’t been paying attention.
Martin
P.S. Please don’t anyone accuse me of supporting ‘hiding behind closed doors’ or ‘lack of transparency’. It’s very transparent to us all that Renault are struggling this year and hardly surprising that RB are frustrated by it. So it’s time for RB to support them (Renault), not publicly shame them.
P.P.S. Has Webber’s luck moved to the other side of the garage this year?
Red Bull’s comments this week are the sort of classlessness you’d come to expect from Ferrari. Maybe that’s where they’re getting their PR tips from.
After four world titles with a Renault engine designed for RBR’s bizarre aerodynamics, it’s just graceless to throw it back in their faces.
Re Webber’s luck — anyone know how to say “schadenfreude” in German?
I believe one says “schadenfreude”
I think they’ve given SV the wrong chassis. Somewhere on the bottom of his tub is the inscription: “Das Ozzie Auto”
Completely agree with you – how short (RB and others) memories are – perhaps Renault should ditch RB – not likely they would be able to get MB or even Ferrari engines is it
That blight in Munich seems very quite, not a lot being said about the court case lately.
A lots been said about Redbull and Renault particularly after this last race, but the reality is that Renault has been a good partner for Redbull and one would assume that next year they will get the engine pretty close Renault aren’t stupid.
You can’t win every year and things like this make you a better team if you can learn from it. What we are seeing this year is no surprise totally new regulations and one team got it done better than the rest, look at F1 history happens basically every time there is a engine regulation change.
“Vast acclaim”? That and £2.50 will buy you a cup of coffee. F1 is not the only thing at which Renault is failing, like try the automobile business. How many times does Ghosn miss his op margin goal before the outside directors gang up and toss him out the door.
Joe, do you think Lewis is being psychologically trounced by Rosberg? And does the fact that Rosberg is a German in a German team make it more of swim-against-the-tide situation for Lewis? The recent blunt comments from Toto Wolff made me think like that – but I’m just assuming. Would like to know your thoughts on it…
No
Wolff was just telling it like it is, Hamilton finished second because he screwed up Saturday.
But Rosberg has been lucky, Hamilton is 29 points behind but lost 43 to Rosberg with two DNFs.
Calling Mercedes AMG a German team is seomwhat tenuous. Wolff is German, but Bell is British, Lowe is British, the team is based in Brackley…
Rosberg is just better at not rocking the boat when things go against him.
Wolff is German? I believe you will find that he is an Austrian.
I stand corrected and entirely ashamed of myself.
These questions are like the general media questions that are compered for television…
“it’s a nice day today, do you think we’ll get more sunshine, will that affect the Pirelli supersofts or do you think it might rain?”
“No.”
Welcome to Internet World . . .
‘publish or perish’ is no longer within academia’s exclusive domain –
So the cream which rises to the top has to compete with those floating turds filled with hot air.
The organisers’ fault – there should be a grand prix every weekend to maintain true focus.
Everyone loves gossip!
Not if it is total crap, they don’t…
Not really sure about that, look at what’s ‘trending’ on any given topic, and the most popular links are gossip / bullsh*t / he said-she said nonsense. Having said that, I like to think that most people have fairly well developed bullsh*t filters and applying a little knowledge or even common sense lets them sort the wheat from the chaff. I have to say I reply on you and a few other commentators for the real stories, but that doesn’t stop me enjoying some of the dodgier ‘sources’ – its all part of the razzmatazz and drama of what is supposed to be one of the greatest shows on earth. As long as I’ve been a F1 fan, almost as long as you Joe, gossip, innuendo, rumours have been a big part of the ‘sport’ AKA business. The only difference now is that the gossip / innuendo / rumours are amplified and propagated more powerfully and quickly now. I’d suggest the major stakeholders could do more to take advantage of social media and digital communication opportunities in the way the bottom feeders have.
I don’t give a toss about what is trending. If I cared about that I would write rubbish
And I thought I was the only old fart here….
Forza,
I think the stakeholders in digital media are the brokers, the echo chamber creators, who can pump and dump and create “media” from the hot air.
Frothy discussion on twitter or Facebook does not change the actual product. Ephemera can matter, but there are too many hype machines, and vehicles for advertising and exploiting personal information can afford to employ real resources to psychologically manipulate their “users”. That to me is very different from spending time and effort on figuring out the psychology of making a product desirable or significant, it seems to me a misdirection of resources away from the interests of a advertiser.
I think whilst you are not wrong we all have bullshit filters on nowadays, we have not realized the extent to which we, the real stakeholders along with the authors of what we read, have been disenfranchised. The advertisers have been cut out also, to a extent I do not think they realize. Are they not stakeholders in good publishing?
I was so saddened the other day, by a comment loving this blog, but lamenting they struggled to afford the magazine. Does not most every internet access or phone contract cost as much or more for just a month? Where’s the sense of balance of worth? It’s been taken over. Deeply sad.
The Infiniti brand of Nissan is far more prominent in hybrid technologies and its clear they are much better aligned with RBR whereas Renault seem behind in hybrids. It would make sense if RBR was pushing Infiniti but equally if Renault is serious about hybrid technology it seems they should continue in F1 – assuming that is that F1 stays in green tech. While Nissan is an Alliance partner Renault is in effective control – the “alliance” was a way of Nissan retaining face.
Did you read the financials? Without Nissan Renault would be losing money…
That makes no difference to control Joe.
Did I say it did? I was just pointing out that these days Nissan keeps Renault afloat.
Just as the Chinese keep Peugeot in business.
Ironic that perhaps at one time the manufacturers most forcefully protected against the far east incursion in to French and Italian markets are now all dependant upon those once their enemies.
Had the EU not happened, the protectionism and government financial assistance would have continued, things may have turned out differently.
Dacia?
Ghosen is a blimming genius. To make a failing state company look like the savior of a misdirected Japanese giant, seeing the opportunity of cultural influence was greater one way than the other, despite had Renault been able to act on The Toyota Management System, or anything like it, it would not have been in trouble. Says too much about France we already know, but says interesting things about how big business is in Japan recently. A Japan reviving and renewing thinking would be a enormous benefit to the world, geopolitically especially.
As you say Joe, the Silly Season does seem early these days. As I remember it, this usually began around early September at the Italian GP, where driver contracts and moves were often being negotiated or announced in times gone 20-30 years ago.
However, as to which drivers might go where, surely this is entirely dictated by the small amount of race winning seats available to the small pool of top drivers?
If one takes Mercedes, Red Bull, Ferrari & McLaren, as the most likely drives for race wins and championship wins, and that is the case for the last 15 years or so ( aside from Renault 05/06 ), then there are only 8 seats worth considering, and they have Hamilton/Rosberg, Vettel/Ricciardo, Alonso/Raikonnen, Button/Magnussen in them.
McLaren are not at present an obvious choice for Hamilton or Alonso to go to, but with Honda coming back, they might just be big again in 2015/16 and beyond? Of the drivers above, JB is clearly headed out of his career, KMag may just be very good, but the car doesn’t allow him much chance to shine right now. RB has a proven winner with Ricciardo now, and Rosberg looks rather cocooned at Merc. If Hamilton doesn’t win the title, being the emotional person that he is, personally, I could see him making a Mac move, on the basis that he would be in a ” Spiritual place with Senna ” at the wheel of a Mac-Honda. Likewise, if Ron wants titles, it is clear that Alonso is the guy to have on board, would Ron go for Kimi?? Not likely, Hamilton, why not? Vettel, turn down a 4 x champion?? Again, very unlikely.
Frankly Joe, I wouldn’t write anything in or out right now. For the rest of 2014-2020, apart from Nico, Hammy, Alonso & Vettel are the most likely people to win the titles in this period, and so regardless of past history, these are the most wanted drivers, unless someone young and absolutely sensational arrives, and I haven’t seen that driver on the current grid as yet.
I think we could safely write out an emotional Alonso/Dennis reunion. And Hamilton is not stupid, why would he flounce out on the best car in the field?
Nothing is safe in a world of pragmatists
To Big Ron it’s all about winning, nothing else counts, and the pain he has gone through over the last few years, would be amply sufficient for him to overlook any character defects Alonso might have in relation to Employer/Employee confidentiality issues!
Like I said, there’s a small pool of top drivers. Rosberg maybe about to join that pool,but it will still be only 4 then. The others out there are either on their way down in their careers, standing still and not likely to improve, or possibly on their way up but without enough experience as yet.
Looking at Hamilton, Alonso, Vettel, at this time, none of them looks ecstatic about their current circumstances. Hammy has been getting over emotional as usual, and appears to have had some instruction on keeping up appearances in team cohesion, but one has to ask if this will survive another 2-3 Rosberg wins. Alonso must feel a little comforted that he didn’t jump ship to RB for this year, when it would be no surprise to findout that his management may have tried to do this. And Vettel isn’t finding life in mid grid and early retirements much fun. These guys all have a pretty short fuse if they can’t be in the running to win every week.
So, as Joe noted, being pragmatic, which is what any top F1 team or driver should be, then would seem to be no real obstacles to any of those drivers wanting to try out a Mac with Honda engineering backing. It’s not guaranteed that Honda win every time out in F1, but they seem to get the job done when just making the engines, more often than not!
I think the driver market could be intriguing this autumn, and I wouldn’t count out any moves from the top guys. I would also expect that any of them would have few qualms about a pay cut if required, as long as they got a seat that could get them to another WCD. The problem these 3-4 drivers face is simply that there are few race winning seats out there, Mac has gone down a black hole that it could get out of in 2015, but are JB and KMag, the guys to haul them out? If Hammy/Alonso/Vettel offered to join Mac, would Ron really keep his current line up?? Answers on a postcard please…….
Is there are a possibility of Vettel going to McLaren? He looks like a breath of fresh air would do him good.
Joe, do you realistically envisage a Red Bull produced or funded engine from say 2015?
Sorry, I meant 2016, for example ‘Infiniti’ or even ‘VW/Audi/Porsche’ badged?
No, that is a ridiculous idea
Why on earth is that “ridiculous”?
Because as long as a certain person draws breath, the VW group will not touch F1 with a bargepole…that right Joe?
Sounds reasonable
Joe,
A question please. At Viry-Chatillon, apart from the F1 engine, are they involved in other projects?
TIA
Not obviously but they may do some consulting stuff
Leaving a winning team worked out well for Hamilton last time…
Wait, Hamilton saying he’ll go back to McLaren is a REAL story? Surely, he said such things in anger, he can’t really be considering such a thing? That’s madness. Mercedes will be the team to be in for at least a few seasons.
tucked away are little gems which make this blog so good – thanks.
I hadn’t heard about Nissan not being allowed to buy into the F1 technology unit. Maybe the Government would have said it was a strategic asset anyway.
This season has had a real ‘watching paint dry’ feel to it. With Merc’s dominance, fewer sponsors with between race efforts and the silence of and about the new powertrains — the lack of news between races has been notable. Hence, the re-gurgitation of so much nonsense as you’ve pointed out. In addition, few seem to recall any history of F1. For example, how Renault has always taken its time to get their engine right and soon thereafter won everything, how Alonso and Hamilton and Dennis at McLaren were like oil, water and gasoline; Kimi and his on-going steering peculiarities; and, so on… Bernie’s ‘situation’ has left the lunatics running rampant and without focus.
I really like this blog, but the weekly rants about the ‘bottom feeders’ are not adding anything, apart from the impression that the author is increasingly very frustrated by the way some other sites and GMM do business. That point has been duly noted by now.
Please move on and keep doing your own good workl. You’re not going to change anything with it anyway.
My blog. My rules.